Gavin Baker

Design like you’re right; listen like you’re wrong

A few weeks back my friend John recommended I read the story of karlssonwilker inc., called  tellmewhy: The First 24 Months of a New York Design Company. The book is both absurd and interesting at the same time.  Essentially it is the dueling stream of consciousness from the two founders and only employee’s of the agency as they debate what to do, how to do it and how they felt about it.  This is definetely a good read for anyone who might be jumping into the business of starting their own small design shop or business on their own.  It deals with the simple complexities of paying bills (accounts payable), getting paid for work you’ve completed (accounts receivable)  and pitching new work.

The more I think about it, the more it’s a perfect read for anyone who is walking down this path.  If you’re not, well you’ll probably find it humerous in a Zoolander type of way.

Oh, and they’ve got some SWEET infographics in the back.

I have this quote (picture above) by Bruce Nussbaum on my wall. I put it up about a year and a half ago and I still believe it’s true. This isn’t a post on a radical new idea, but rather recalling it as a reminder. Here’s the quote:

Social media is upending relationships between customers and corporations, brand owners and brand creators, consumers and producers, centralized authority and anarchistic periphery and-pay attention here-designers and their audiences. People want to design their own experiences, or at least have a big voice in it. With Web 2.0 technology and blogs, they get that voice. People are increasingly designing their own shoes and clothes, their own screen pages, their own interfaces, their own homes. And when they’re not, they want designers and managers to really understand what they have to say. Nike is changing the way it designs and manufactures because of social networking. So are dozens of other companies. Yes, we will always have our brilliant geniuses who intuit their audiences and create wonderful experiences for them. Ive and Jobs at Apple. Bang & Olufsen and its incredible designers and designs. But even Apple is getting hit very hard on the sustainability issue because it isn’t listening to its social networks. Brands have ideologies. They stand for things. People believe in those things. When the culture of Apples’ customers changes, as it is happening today, it has to move with it. You, as designers, can’t just do ethnology anymore. You have to join with those you’re observing to be in their culture and create with them.

The sections I’ve highlighted above and will discuss below are:

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The blogosphere (or at least my blogosphere, i.e. the blogs that I read that focus on business, design, marketing, etc.) is on fire with the word design. Chopped, sauteed, blended, and baked everyone is talking about design in every possible context. For good reason, design is important, and great design (which could be argued is functional design) impacts people every day.

Recently, the design of Archer Farms Parmesan Garlic potato chip bag rocked my world. (Not to mention these are some of the best chips I’ve ever had)

You’re asking yourself why did this rock Gavin’s world. Well, it’s written right on the on the front of the bag, “recloseable for freshness” yep, it’s the awesome combination of a ziploc bag and a potato chip bag. This means no more stale chips, no more bag clips and fresh taste everyday.

Secondly, the part that amazes me is that Archer Farms is Target’s house brand. Granted, they are positioning it as a very design-centric elite house brand, but it is still a house brand. The question is, why didn’t any of the other 500 chip bag makers figure this out? I don’t for a second believe that Dorito, or Lay’s or Snyder’s or [insert in your favorite bagged treat here], didn’t know that this was an issue.

Why didn’t they make this change?

Maybe this is the continuation of the design-sensitive customer, or the fact that Target has a history of implementing innovative design that is customer-centric. Either way I applaud the person who pushed this change through, and I look forward to what else comes down the pipe.

Have a great day everyone.